


Stage Fright

by WindwiseWords



Series: Xenogen City [12]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Conference, Developing Political Relationships, Heartfelt, Honesty, Inspirational Speeches, Jazz aced the balding jokes, Nervousness, Optimus being his awesome honest self, Political Alliances, Public Relations, Questioning, Ratchet is a grumpy old man, Speaking in public
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 20:38:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8341909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindwiseWords/pseuds/WindwiseWords
Summary: Optimus Prime has the jitters before addressing a panel of human scientists and political minds. A battle speech is one thing, but the politics of humans always made him nervous. Ratchet and Jazz have his back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I know some one of you nerds are wondering how exactly the Autobots are received in the public eye. Don't worry, the 'cons will get their spotlight too. But Optimus comes first. Boss Bot is a great public face when he's not slaughtering the enemy with brutal precision.

Optimus Prime felt nervous. A rare sensation for the brave leader. Fear? Yes, he would admit to fearing some battles. Pride? He could admit to that as well. Even rage was easy to fix, a good sparring match beating it out.

“Are you alright, Optimus?” Ratchet came up and rested a hand on his leader’s shoulder. Optimus prepared hours for this, days even. He held a datapad with all his notes, over seven thousand words just in case. Optimus always had a backup, just in case.

“Hm? Yes, Ratchet, I’ll be alright. It’s just been some time since I’ve addressed a crowd this big.”

Ratchet chuckled and quirked a brow. “Our brave leader getting stage fright? You can charge directly into Megatron’s cannon but a few thousand observers make you nervous? Optimus Prime, you are a marvel.”

Optimus laughed, feeling better already. Jazz’s antics on stage as a warm up seemed to put the crowd in a light mood as well, the spunky Third in Command trying his hand at observational comedy about the panel of special guests.

“And you see this guy, yea you in the front there! His dome is so shiny, I bet Sunstreaker could follow ‘em around to check out his own reflection.” Jazz threw his polishing cloth over the shiny head. The crowd roared with laughter, clapping as Jazz took a theatrical bow. “Thank ‘ya! Y’all too kind!” Jazz waved and even blew kisses as he rolled off to the side of the stage, patting Optimus on the chest as he passed. “Ah got ‘em all warmed up for ya boss. Kill it out there!”

Ratchet saw the announcer step up to introduce their next guest, Optimus Prime. He glanced over and Ratchet rolled a hand, asking for a few more seconds.

“Optimus, you’ve given harder worded speeches in worse times.” Ratchet gripped his shoulders, shaking him a bit and trying to get it in his head that he could do this. “If you flounder I’ll just send Jazz back out. Okay? Or I’ll come out. We have your back. On or off the battlefield, we have your back in everything.”

Optimus’ blue eyes softened before setting his jaw determinedly and standing straight. He tapped his foot and shifted to the edge of the curtained area. The announcer gestured broadly and Optimus took a deep invent before stepping out into the bright lights. His expertly polished armor glistened and he faintly heard the crowd go wild, currently focused on just reaching the oversized podium.

As he stopped he gripped the sides of it and looked out at the crowd, trying to not squint at the lights. A faint order issued to dim them, Optimus Prime took another breath and decided to just be how he always was: perfectly honest.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t scared out of my frame.” A soft chuckle rippled through the crowd. “I’ve given a hundred thousand speeches of all kinds. Battle speeches, reports, funerals.” The chuckle died on the last word and Optimus launched into his speech. “But I’ve never given a report to a crowd of humans this large. And that scares me.”

“We all fought for your world together. Blood, energon, and tears were spilt to keep this world safe. And it will never cease to amaze me how forgiving and sheltering your race can be. How aggressive and protective you can be over beings that barely resemble you at all. For that we owe you our eternal thanks.”

Optimus let that sink in and scrolled in his data pad. The formatted and perfect words he planned didn’t cut it. He turned it over and looked up again. “I have seen your soldiers take on things that they seemed to have no chance against and prevail. I have seen your soldiers and civilians accept us into your fold with minimal skepticism. But you are right to be skeptical. We have been at war longer than your species has existed.” A soft murmur rose in the crowd, but Optimus pressed on.

“But that has ended here. It is an era of peace brought about by our combined strengths and weaknesses, our triumphs and failures. I have died once for this world.” A heavy pause, Optimus still not entirely at terms with that entire situation. “And I was saved by a human man that I will always hold respect for in my spark. I’ve made close friends with your race. And I have grown to love this planet. Despite the dust that gets caught in my vents.” Another chuckle, and he glanced over at Ratchet, who nodded while Jazz gave him a thumbs up.

“I personally believe we could never have reached this peace agreement, this new era of compatibility and cooperation between Autobots and Decepticons, without the human ambassadors that fought so hard to let us start our own city, our own new beginning out of the ashes of our fallen world. For that, I am deeply indebted to you all.”

There was a pregnant pause before someone on the panel started to clap. The roar of hands coming together was different from metal ones but he understood it all the same. What he didn’t expect was a standing ovation, and the shock on his face made a few call out words of praise for the leader that so willingly bared his emotions and feelings about the situation.

When the clapping finally died down, the panel opened for questions. A swarm of hands waved in the air, some just shouting out random questions about himself or Xenogen. Ratchet came to his rescue and stomped a heavy foot, the old CMO already noted for his no-bullscrap attitude.

“Alright we’re going to do this civil before you blow his processor! I don’t have time to fix that.” Someone shouted out ‘I love you Ratchet’ just as the crowd simmered to a murmur and the CMO raised a brow. “I can guarantee my most sparkfelt return.” He stated dryly before barking out a command. “Hands only! Next person to call out gets sent to the back of the class” And to Optimus’ relief, Ratchet stayed there by his side. Comedic relief seemed to go far with humans.

Almost every hand in the crowd shot up, so Optimus started with the first member of the panel. A local college professor that once studied Xenobiology. “Optimus Prime, I first want to say that we too feel great gratitude for your sacrifice for our world. And I want to be the first here to say we are very happy at the approval of Xenogen.” Clapping started but a growl from Ratchet cut it off into a chuckle at the CMO’s demands of silence.

“I appreciate that.” Optimus spoke warmly, and offered a small smile.

“My question, though, is how you all exactly plan to fold into society? As of now you’ve placed a required check-in, check-out system for all grounders, and required all seekers to keep in constant contact out of Xenogen airspace. Many of your units could be useful to projects from construction to medical research.” She gestured to Ratchet who stood a bit taller at the recognition.

“Our plans currently are to wait and see. Perhaps a military strategy but we currently have to fix our own laws and ourselves, come back from a warrior mindset. Fights between Decepticons are common, and less common but still prevalent are fights between Autobots and Decepticons. All are quickly broken up by my commanding officers, but we must learn to trust ourselves in our own city before we can come to work in your cities.” The researcher seemed satisfied with that and sat down.

The next hand up was the mayor of a coastal shipping city, east coast of the United States. “We started expanding docking space on one end of our port for your water units. We’ve already started shipping out to Xenogen, and it’s greatly increased the economy in our area. Maybe it’s a bit conspiracy theory, but we do have legitimate concerns that the sheer strength and specialization of your units—your mechs,” he corrected swiftly, “will cause some jobs to be obsolete. Technology already has replaced a lot of jobs, and we can’t really afford to lose any more.”

Optimus never even considered that. “We have discussed exports of goods and services many times at our own meetings, and as of now we’ve only set the value on our goods. Metals have a much higher price to us than, oh let’s use fruit for an example. Our tropical zone makes us great for farming, and many bots have taken it up as a hobby of all things. Have you ever seen a jet pick papayas? It’s hilarious. I think the prices we can agree on for goods and services will balance out and result in no job loss. We already have begun to hire detailing teams to help with the paint on our structures, and I foresee us hiring many other professions.”

The next hand was someone unknown to Optimus but they seemed concerned. “We’ve heard rumor that there are some of your units that are pregnant.”

“Sparked.” Ratchet corrected, raising a brow. “Yes. That is correct, all that have come to see me total to three.”

The man nodded. “There is slight concern of a population explosion similar to the Baby Boom America experienced after World War Two…” He trailed off as Ratchet laughed and shook his head.

“Explosion? No. Maybe by our numbers but not by your numbers. I read somewhere there is a human baby born every thirteen seconds? Cybertronians generally do all spark at once, a group to provide playmates for the sparklings. But until that bitlet is strong enough to move about on his own, the coding of the sire and creator will prevent any more sparklings. Humans generally have their children in close succession, where we wait five to _two thousands_ of your years to even consider.”

Optimus decided to chime in. “It would be worth mentioning that sparklings are not often born to unbonded parents. Its complex to explain, more a feeling than a medical process. Though Ratchet may beg to differ.”

The man considered this before speaking up again. “Will these sparklings require special care? I’d like to know medical complications related to being sparked and any complications the babies could have.” The questioning look Ratchet gave prompted a response. “I’m a specialist in child therapy before that I worked in the delivery ward of many hospitals. I have a compassion for children. Of all races.”

That brought a genuine smile to Ratchet’s face and he nodded curtly. “I’ll send you any and all documents that are pertinent as soon as we get back to my office. No, I’ll have my apprentice start to compile them.” He stepped off stage to get a hold of First Aid.

Optimus was touched by the concern for the sparklings, but he was far from surprised. The announcer crept back onto the stage and announced that they had to move on to lunch, and glanced to Optimus, asking if he would take questions later.

“Of course. I’d be happy to take them over lunch if needed. I am here to make a point at easing any fears and suspicions that the human race has about my people and Xenogen.” Optimus bowed slightly and many people began to clap again as he exited the stage.

Jazz slid up to him and slapped him on the back. “You did fantastic, boss bot.”

Ratchet nodded and came over to escort Optimus Prime off to get some lunch. He held tight to Optimus’ arm, the nerves and shakes coming on despite how well the speech and interview went.

“Do you think I’ll have guests for lunch?” Optimus chuckled, watching a few humans hover about holding trays of food from the banquet.

“Optimus, I think we’re going to answer questions until I finally kick the bucket.” A crowd of slightly off-put people followed them to their energon rations set off in the grass outside the conference area. It was comical to see the professionally dressed plop in the grass just as Optimus and Ratchet did. Ratchet informed them that it was CMO order that Optimus refuel a bit before questions, and Optimus just smiled as a single question floated out from a partly full mouth: What did energon taste like?


End file.
